NEWS
Follow UsAnnabel Sutherland’s stocks are evidently rising highly day in and day out, with stellar displays over the last year and a half. Across her last five Test innings, the right-handed batter has scores of 137*, 15, 16, 27 and a 210 now against South Africa.
While it was the England knock that led to the world taking notice of her form, the recent heroics - 210 - against South Africa has evidently sealed the deal. Walking in a lot of pressure, the junior Sutherland soaked in all the pressure and eventually threw a counter-punch that was enough to knock the South African bowling unit cold.
In the aftermath of a crushing win over South Africa, Australian women’s captain Alyssa Healy heaped praises on the 22-year-old all-rounder, crediting her for both her batting display and her bowling display - where she picked up five wickets in the Test.
"[Sutherland’s] unbelievably special. I think Test cricket in particular is made for Annabel. Her technique is impeccable and what she can do with the ball, just challenging the stumps all the time and making batters play, I think is pretty unique,” Healy praised Sutherland’s efforts.
"She'll be opening or batting three I would assume at some point for Australia, but right now I'm not sure who [she is] dislodging."
"I didn't really want to throw her the ball because I thought she might be a little bit tired and probably needed a rest," Healy said. "I told her that when we went out there and she went 'aww' because she wanted to bowl.”
One of the hallmarks of this Australian setup is the fact that they have plethora of bowling options - eight in total - which allows Healy to pick and choose.
"You know that when we are in a little tricky situation, there's always someone you can throw the ball to that's going to do something different, so it's a huge luxury," Healy said. "It's difficult to balance and difficult to get it right all the time, but I'd rather have it that way than not having enough options."
South Africa were playing just their second Test in a decade, but for Australia, it was their third Test in just the last year, showing the imbalance between the sides. Healy said that throwing a Test in ‘willy nilly’ won’t really help Test cricket grow in women’s sport.
"It's just about finding context for them. You can't just throw a Test match in willy nilly and think that it's going to work. So whether it is the multi-format series, whether there is standalone Test series, I don't know what it's going to look like. But I can sit here and safely say we do want more. We'd love to play more and we'd gladly have the opportunity to play as many as we can."
